Parents Contact Police About Piano Teacher

JAMES CITY — More than a dozen concerned parents contacted James City County police Friday morning following a report that a local piano teacher had been charged with raping a 12- year-old student.

As many as 50 children might have taken lessons from the 33-year-old man, police said.

Deputy Chief Ken Middlebrook said his office received calls, faxes and stop-in visits from parents who said Richard Tyson taught their children piano. A couple of parents told police they stopped lessons because they were uncomfortable with Tyson.

The James City County man was charged Thursday with one count of rape. That charge stems from an incident the first week of October involving a Williamsburg student, police said.

Police served a search warrant Friday afternoon at Tyson's home on Tewkesbury Way. Middlebrook said investigators were looking for any pictures, videos or computer images Tyson may have taken of any of his piano students, as well as notes or e-mails.

Tyson, who turned himself in to police Thursday, has refused to talk with investigators. He is being held without bond at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail.

Jail officials said Tyson also has declined to talk with the media. Tyson had his first court appearance Friday but the bond hearing was delayed until Feb. 1 in James City County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, jail staff said.

Middlebrook said no other charges were pending Friday against Tyson, but police are investigating whether any other students were sexually abused. Police are in the process of contacting each of Tyson's past and current students, he said.

"This is going to be a lengthy investigation by the sheer fact of all the students he had," Middlebrook said.

One concerned parent faxed investigators a list of 46 students' names, Middlebrook said. He added that police have received other calls from parents whose children were not on the list.

One parent called police and said they discontinued the lessons after they discovered Tyson had their daughter sitting on his lap while teaching the girl to play the piano, Middlebrook said.

Another parent told police they stopped the lessons after they learned Tyson sneaked a camera into their home and took pictures of their daughter during a lesson, Middlebrook said. He said the parents told police the pictures were not sexual in nature.

Middlebrook said police have not been able to verify those recent allegations.

"We're just going on what parents have told us," Middlebrook said.

Police still don't know how long Tyson had been teaching piano in the area but say he has lived in the Williamsburg area "most of his life."

Neighbors said Tyson has lived in the large, two-story house on Tewkesbury Way for about a year. They said he lived alone with two small dogs, and kept to himself.

The student in the case, who is now 13, started taking weekly, 30-minute lessons from Tyson in June 2000, police said. He taught the lessons at the student's home, but police said the alleged rape occurred at Tyson's home in James City County.

After the incident, Middlebrook said, the girl's behavior alarmed her parents and they contacted police Dec. 20. Middlebrook said the parents discovered one handwritten note and e-mails Tyson sent to their daughter.

He would not say what the notes said.

"They weren't appropriate from a 32-year-old man to a 12-year-old girl," Middlebrook said. Tyson had a birthday in December and was 32 years old at the time, he said. Middlebrook said police do not know if Tyson has been convicted of any previous sex crimes but said investigators were trying to track down the man's past.

Police are asking anyone with information related to the case to contact investigator Bill Gibbs at 253-1800.

Brian Whitson can be reached at 221-7220 or by e-mail at bwhitson@dailypress.com